Greg Edwards69

I need to look into better footwear for gigs for similar reasons. My right foot rolls inward after rolling my ankle badly some years ago. Often, gigging makes my ankle ache for ages afterwards. Strapping it up helps, but it's not comfortable. My go-to trainers are a pair of Camper Beetles as they're so comfy, but obviously not giving enough support for lengthy standing stints. Having a high instep also limits my choices somewhat - typically, trainers that fit my footshape are too loose around the heel, which starts to slide inward.

Guilty as charged!

No worries. I did try it without cab blocks, but felt it lacked a certain “Je ne sais quoi”, it’s diffult to put your finger on it. That said, I notice most of the effect and/or the amp blocks seem to have a smooth response at the top end, almost as if they have a high cut already applied. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one scratching my head over the I/O gain. I kinda feel the input needs to be pushed a little more - it would certainly explain why the compressors seem a bit unresponsive - I’m having to crank the input on hte luminal FET compressor. I never really though about it with my Helix, I just added blocks to get the tones I wanted. The resulting signal is bit hotter than going in, but that's just the way they turned out. The Anagram blocks seem to naturally sit at unity gain. Furthermore, the main volume knob on the helix is cut only. I have detached it from the XLR outputs so that FOH get full volume. I'm a little confused with the Anagram's mixer block. I would assume leaving the XLR outputs at 0db would be "unity", but it also has a master volume control that I don't really see the point of. I notice you can unlink the different output from the master volume. I assume that unlinking will achieve the same as disabling the Helix's volume knob. Like you, I need to investigate this further. I haven't been able to A/B these at volume yet, and I'm not likely to before the next gig.

New venue for us at The Winged Horse in Basildon. Pretty much your usual community pub in a busy resential estate, with an array of lively, colourful characters. We were also joined once again by one of our dep singers, Hazel, who did a fantastic job once again. Initially they wanted us to set up in the main bar area, but there's barely space for a duo, let alone a 6 peice band, so we set up in the secondary room. It did however mean we had to compete with the football on the screen in hte main bar. Nevertheless, we played well and had a decent crowd who came through to watch, sing and dance. Only real downside is no body told us it's payment via "Just Pay", not cash. So that's that's going to take a while to come through. Oh well. Next stop, The Sarah Moore in Leigh-on-Sea.- about 15mins walk from my front door.

I do have a further question, where are you guys aiming for on the input and output meters? A the moment mine are hitting abut halfway on each. But I’m thinking I maybe should push them a bit hotter.

`yes, I’m quite aware how cab blocks work. I didn’t use them for years with the Helix, largely, because I don’t have great knowledge of different mic types and mic’ing techniques. But I started using them within the last couple of years once I got to grips with them - whilst I realised they are largely a complex eq curve, I find a nicely dialled in cab blocks bring a certain “something” to the mix that I can’t dial in with eq alone - almost as if there’s subtle compression in the right areas. Anyway, I think I’ve sorted it now, by simply changing the default mic selection and a tiny about of eq. Still, I think the Anagram cab blocks have more high end cut than the revised helix cab blocks introduced a couple of years ago - the helix one usually need taming with further high and low cuts, whereas the Anagram feels like they need opening up.

I've spent most of that afternoon playing with the Anagram and dialling in some nice sounds. I ended up using the Jim Bass amp and the California Bass 4x10. I've been favouring the SVT Brt amp on the helix for ages, pages with an 8x10 and 1x12 dual cab block. But I just didn't enjoy the Peggy amp and amp cabs on the anagram - it sounded too 'pillowy'. The combination I chose it much punchier. However, once I got it it sounding nice, I switched to my Helix - it's like night I day. My helix preset is so much more articulate with upper end detail. The Anagram sounds like it's got a blanket over it, even with this punchy and seemingly articulate amp and cab block choice. I'm going to to have to spend more time with this tomorrow and rig up a method to A/B on the fly. EDIT: according to chatgpt, the anagram has baked in high cuts on the cabs (and possibly elsewhere), whereas it's editable on the helix. This would account for why drives sound smooth without need to put a high cut block in the chain like I do with the helix.

I've since discovered that a number of users have mentioned the headphone volume issue, the lack of editing features in the Suite. I'm hoping DG can address both in future updates. I haven't just been able to compare the main 1/4" or XLR outputs. I'm hoping these are more similar to the Helix. Can anyone confirm. FWIW, on my Helix I use 1/4" at line level and XLR at mic level. The main volume knob is also detached from the XLR, so it sends full volume.

Had 30 minutes or so to play with the Anagram last night. Updated the firmware straight away - far more straightforward than updating the Helix! Whizzed through the factory presets and had a play with some individual blocks. There are some lovely drives, as expected, and some of the amps sound great without cabs or further low/high cuts, which are essential with the Helix. Just a couple of niggles so far. The volume over headphones is much quieter than the helix. Even turning up the headphone output and setting it to +10dB, it's still nowhere near as loud as my helix. I know my ATH-m50x are 38 ohm, but even my little Katana:Go drives them louder than the Anagram. DG Suite is very underwhelming. It looks pretty and makes updating the firmware a piece of cake, but coming from HX Edit, it lacks basic expected functions, such as remotely controlling presets/scenes on the Anagram, and preset editing. I really hope this will be enabled in a future update. I'll have all day to play with it tomorrow before the evenings gig. I don't expect to have a gig ready presets created, as I haven't yet planned out how I'm going to design my workflow. Downsizing from the Helix LT with 8 stomps/snapshots to 3 will take some thought.

Non-standard tuners on mass-produced basses, that I can't simply drop a Hipshot XTender in without drilling (looking at you, Squier!). Pickup selector switches - give me a blend or two volume pots I prefer maple fretboards because I like the look - I don't buy into maple sounds brighter and rosewood sounds darker Boutique curly maple tops that look like the instrument has been smeared in poo (Cort GB Modern) When people say "it plays like butter". Sounds horrible to me - all greasy and slimy!

Does anyone use the supplied PSU, or another third party solution? I'm not a fan of wall-wart design PSU's and the included one looks a bit fragile. I don't really want to get a proper 'pedal-board' style brick either. I have this Mooer one kicking around somewhere that'll probably do the job, but I might look into something with a bit more juice, in case I want to run anything else with it at a later date.

To be fair, at the Stadium announcement event, Line 6 confirmed that they would continue to develop the current hardware for the foreseeable future - they're still going to manufacture and sell them. Obviously, their main focus is launching the Stadium and adding promised features, but I don't think it will be too long before the current devices are shown some love.

Just placed my order with GuitarGuitar, and it should arrive tomorrow. Eeek! I doubt I'll be able to dial in the tones I need in time for this weekend's gig, but I understand it's easier and quicker to achieve a good tone with it than with the Helix, so I'll wait and see.

Just like the real thing then. I bought one once. Took it back a week later. Couldn't get a sound I liked out of it.

Darkglass have released a video demonstrating the new blocks. I have to say, the Sansamp and Big Muff sound great.

Boss pedals might be possible, without them losing out on sales. The Anagram has/will have plugin support, and Boss already have a plugin suite of their most popular pedals available to purchase. There may eventually be a way that a user can purchase the Boss plugin to run on the Anagram, or they can work together to integrate it as a paid addon.

I agree with you that it would be great to see effects other than dirt, but I can understand why they've added these. It seems that a common theme when the Anagram was released was that many bass players wanted alternative drive sounds to the typical modern Darkglass sound. These 4 new blocks should keep those people happy for a while.

I reckon it's a tube screamer - rhyming with dreamer.

Little late to report, but never mind. Thursday we played a double headed with another local band (SX5) at the Cricketers in Leigh as part of a fundraiser for the RNLI. SX5 led on the event and provided the temporary stage, PA, drums and lighting, so we more than happy to go on first. They have their own mixer dialled in (XR16) and use IEMs, so we weren’t quite sure what to do with limited time to set up. So it was decided to bring our mixer for our vocals, guitars and bass, run an output of their mixer into our for the drum mix to retain our own IEM mixer, and then straight out to the spare inputs on their PA speakers. I thought it was gong cause more problems than it would solve, but it ended up working really well. A 90min set without a break to a very appreciative audience (and a busy one for a weeknight) went by like a flash, a quick tear down and SX5 started merely 30mins later. Received a lot of complements from people who’d never seen as before, as well as a number of people who turned up to support us (and the cause) who usually see us playing elsewhere. Whilst I would have like to stayed to support the other band, I was exhausted and knew I had a full on day at work on Friday (in what turn out to be a marathon 5 hour session with an important customer going through amends in a 400 page InDesign document). So reluctantly, we left at 10.30ish and in bed by 11. Looking forward to doing it again, if they plan on it.

Ooh, I don't know about that. I don't usually like false overenthusiasm, but I can't help but like IMA. He's one of the few bass content creators I actually admire and can relate to. He's a proper working bassist who has a great ear for tone and loves playing with effects. And importantly, he's not flashy and doesn't make content to show off his technique, unlike a lot of other well-known bass content creators who don't seem to leave their house.

We've played a number of weddings over the years - often for family members or friends of friends, so we've rarely charged big bucks. But yes, they're usually a long day, typically around 12 hours from leaving and getting back home (even longer if we're invited as guests as well) - certainly longer than a regular day at work. I think the longest we did was 22 hours after leaving home at 6 in the morning for a wedding in Cambridgeshire for a morning set up. Didn't get home until 4 in the morning because the soundman's vehicle broke down on the motorway. This does mean there's often a bit of to-and-fro when negotiating for weddings, as they don't understand that they're paying for more than just 2 hours of music.

Private party in Southend on Sunday evening. It was for friends of one of our singers throwing a party before emigrating to Australia, so lots of Australian theme decorations, hats and inflatables in the venue. The venue itself is called ‘The Lounge Club’, a beautiful jazz bar with a decent well equipped stage area (including hidden power outlets), great lighting and green room - we were truly spoiled. The club has a mix of jazz and soul acts usually, with a number of tribute acts, so it quite fun to bring some heavier rock to the place. We brought our own PA, but the club owner said we could go through their house system, so we just run a couple of xlr leads out of our mixer direct to their patch bay and let them control the volume. Said system consisted of two huge subs either side of the stage and a couple of large tops flown from the ceiling. Quite a bit pokier than our megreat 12” tops and single 12” sub. Personally, I feel it needed a centre fill, but apparently it sounded great further away from the stage. I think they were calibrated a bit on the bossier side (as proven when the DJ played music when we took a break and finished - almost painfully loud and you could feel the bass in you stomach), I had to run the hpf on our mixer up to 90hz to stop it overwhelming the mix - it could possibly have gone even higher. As such I was worried that my IEM mix would be lacking, but it sounded fine with the subs filling in the low end. First set was a little lacking in audience participation, but by the time we kicked off the second set set everyone was sufficiently fuelled for a proper party. Really enjoyed this one. Just looking out to see a large club full of dancers throwing balloon and inflatables around was a sight to behold. It reminded my of the good old Top of the Pops days in the 70s and 80s. We had some lovely comments and gave our plenty of business cards, including the couple who booked us who said we were better than the £5k band they booked for their wedding. We really ought to be charging more for these events. Hopefully the venue will be able to recommend us to anyone else who wants to book a rock, pop and party band! Next stop, this Thursday at the Cricketers in Southend. A double header with another local covers band, in aid of the RNLI. Should be an interesting night.

More important IMO. My IE 400 Pro have a single dynamic driver and sound far superior to other multi driver units I’ve used.

Not to mention their X Air series mixers have become the go-to solution for many gigging bands on the pub and wedding circuit.

To be fair and accurate, TC and Behringer are both subsidiaries of Music Tribe, along with a number of other brands such as TurboSound, Klark Teknik, Tannoy and Midas. Although Uli Behringer is the founder and chairman... draw from that what you will.